Tuesday, September 23, 2014
THIS IS GOODBYE !!!
Exactly 5 years and 10 months ago I started the BEST Journey of my life ... coming to Abu Dhabi to work for Etihad as Cabin Crew.
This whole time, I had the best time of my life: I partied at the best parties, I flown with the best crew, I traveled to the best destinations, I took care of the best passengers,I enjoyed the best vacation, I stayed in the best hotels and I made the best friends.
I would like to thank everyone who fallowed me on this blog and also to everyone who joined Etihad after reading it.
Today, is my last day in Etihad (but not in UAE) and even that it's a bitter/sweet experience, I'm super excited to chase my new dream (to start my new career) and hopefully start family with my husband.
A lot of you will be probably sending me messages, asking what I'm planning to do next... so let me leave it in the open and as weird it might sound... it will be nothing to do with traveling ... I'm training to become a Dog Groomer !!!
I would like to leave you with only one thought :
NEVER GIVE UP ON YOUR DREAM ... AND HAPPY FLYING :
<<< NIKITA - Once Upon A Dream >>>
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
3 years and I still love flying!!
Hello everyone !!!
I know that I should have updated you sooner on my progress and I apologize for totally disappearing on you ;) but life got too busy for keeping up with my blog since I met a special someone ;)
Just a quick update :
I'm still working for Etihad and loving it even more !!! it's been 3 yrs and 3 months since I joined ...
Looking back at all this time I spent in Etihad I can say that my first year of flying was amazing , the second one was frustrating and third one I finally realized that flying is my life and it will be hard for me to quit such an addictive, fun and well paid job hahaha.
I'm still working as FA ( economy crew) but hopefully in couple of months I'll get my well deserved promotion. Cross your finger for me !!!
I have traveled to most of Etihad destinations and it's been a really fantastic journey.
Just recently I got my Boeing 777 training and this month I am staring to fly on all the destinations that are operated on this aircrafts. My new destination this month will be Bangkok ( even tho I was there during my leave for couple of days).
I'm meeting a lot of new crew that are recognizing me from this blog and it's just an amazing feeling to know that I might have helped someone to make a decision to take on flying as their career.
I'v got a lot of positive feedback about my blog and I am extremely happy to be able to show people like you, what this job is all about.
Thank you from all my heart !!!
See you in the skies soon !!!
NIKITA
I know that I should have updated you sooner on my progress and I apologize for totally disappearing on you ;) but life got too busy for keeping up with my blog since I met a special someone ;)
Just a quick update :
I'm still working for Etihad and loving it even more !!! it's been 3 yrs and 3 months since I joined ...
Looking back at all this time I spent in Etihad I can say that my first year of flying was amazing , the second one was frustrating and third one I finally realized that flying is my life and it will be hard for me to quit such an addictive, fun and well paid job hahaha.
I'm still working as FA ( economy crew) but hopefully in couple of months I'll get my well deserved promotion. Cross your finger for me !!!
I have traveled to most of Etihad destinations and it's been a really fantastic journey.
Just recently I got my Boeing 777 training and this month I am staring to fly on all the destinations that are operated on this aircrafts. My new destination this month will be Bangkok ( even tho I was there during my leave for couple of days).
I'm meeting a lot of new crew that are recognizing me from this blog and it's just an amazing feeling to know that I might have helped someone to make a decision to take on flying as their career.
I'v got a lot of positive feedback about my blog and I am extremely happy to be able to show people like you, what this job is all about.
Thank you from all my heart !!!
See you in the skies soon !!!
NIKITA
Friday, June 19, 2009
June... the beggining of hell..... I mean summer LOL
oufff.... the temeperatures are in hight 40s. I know that it's not the highest temeperature here... but man.... It's HOT !!!!
My June roster :
1) Melbourne- 26 hours layover
2) Beijing ( requested it with my BF)- 55 hours layover
3) Frankfurt- 19.5 hours layover.
4) Trivandrum- turnaround
5) Start of my 4 day promotion in South Africa with our CEO James Hogan
Before Frankfurt flight I had 2 days of promotions. Both of them were in Al Ain, the first on at the mall and the second one at the hospital.
Melbourne
What a beautiful city. The more I go to Australia the more I love it :) ... such an amazing place. We had a great crew on flight and the whole trip was sooo nice... I'd love to go back there as soon as I can.
Beijing
Yay.. I can't believe that me and my best friend Paula finally got our requested flight !!! The flight was a little hectic and just because of full economy and on top of that 95% of the ppl did not speak a word of english. It can get really messy in the cabin LOL. The most fun we have is during service, when you actually need to spend good 5 min. with each passenger before you communicate with them on their meal and drink choice. Having a chinese speaker on board really halped since she translated for us: chicken , beef or vegetables hehehe... it was a real life saver. Anyway, after a long 8,5 hours flight we finally arrived to Beijing for the fun to begin. We arrived early in the morning, so I went straight to bed and scheduled with few people to meet up around 6 pm for dinner. After a refreshing 7 hours of undisturbed sleep I went downstairs to meet up wit my friend, first officer and F&B. We decided that it will be a good idea to go and try some typical chinese food - uffff nothing more wrong !!!! We went to the "food street" and found a huge restaurant packed with people, and as we all know the busier the restaurant the better the food. As we sat down at the table and opened the menu.... wow.... I have NEVER seen so many disquisting things in my life, and I mean fried chicken feet, seafood that would make your stomach turn, pig intestines stuffed with fat or God only knows what. It took us about good half an hour to go thru this horrifying menu until we finally made the choice.. and to tell you the truth.. not even one thing we ordered was good. So if you ever ask me what to eat in China... I'll tell you McDonalds ( as we did for the rest of the layover LOL ). After the dinner we decided to go to the club called Suzy Wang. It was quite nice, but most of the people there were visitors and expats just like us. We had a lot of fun there and left at about 2 am. The next day we scheduled a day trip with a tour guide. She picked us up at 8:30 am, so as you can guess ... we were dead LOL Our first stop was the Summer Palace.. we literally run thru it !!! This place is huuuge. Our next stop was the pearl factory, where they showed us how they make them and even opened one clam for us so we could see the pearls inside. Next we went to the Great Wall. Ouhhh my legs hurt till today from climbing it LOL. But it's really breathtaking. After this we went back to the city to visit Tea place where thy told us a lot about different kind of teas, traditions and different ways to drink it. When we finished the tour it was already 5 pm. Me and my friend Paula still had to go shopping... off course :) we got soooo much stuff..... hardly closed my suitcase LOL. The shopping in China is THE BEST..... no comparison. On that note, everyone happy we left china. Until next time ;)
Frankfurt.
One of my best flights ever, and all thanks to awesome cabin crew. We went for dinner and we laugh sooo hard that those poor Germans must have thought that we are bunch of kuku people from a nuts house LOL. But that's what it's all about- travel, have fun, enjoy !!!!!!
Trivandrum
Surprisingly this flight was really nice even that it was a long 11 hours duty and we were a little delayed. After flying for 6 months I have to say that finally I learned how to handle night flights.. and actually enjoy them :)
My June roster :
1) Melbourne- 26 hours layover
2) Beijing ( requested it with my BF)- 55 hours layover
3) Frankfurt- 19.5 hours layover.
4) Trivandrum- turnaround
5) Start of my 4 day promotion in South Africa with our CEO James Hogan
Before Frankfurt flight I had 2 days of promotions. Both of them were in Al Ain, the first on at the mall and the second one at the hospital.
Melbourne
What a beautiful city. The more I go to Australia the more I love it :) ... such an amazing place. We had a great crew on flight and the whole trip was sooo nice... I'd love to go back there as soon as I can.
Beijing
Yay.. I can't believe that me and my best friend Paula finally got our requested flight !!! The flight was a little hectic and just because of full economy and on top of that 95% of the ppl did not speak a word of english. It can get really messy in the cabin LOL. The most fun we have is during service, when you actually need to spend good 5 min. with each passenger before you communicate with them on their meal and drink choice. Having a chinese speaker on board really halped since she translated for us: chicken , beef or vegetables hehehe... it was a real life saver. Anyway, after a long 8,5 hours flight we finally arrived to Beijing for the fun to begin. We arrived early in the morning, so I went straight to bed and scheduled with few people to meet up around 6 pm for dinner. After a refreshing 7 hours of undisturbed sleep I went downstairs to meet up wit my friend, first officer and F&B. We decided that it will be a good idea to go and try some typical chinese food - uffff nothing more wrong !!!! We went to the "food street" and found a huge restaurant packed with people, and as we all know the busier the restaurant the better the food. As we sat down at the table and opened the menu.... wow.... I have NEVER seen so many disquisting things in my life, and I mean fried chicken feet, seafood that would make your stomach turn, pig intestines stuffed with fat or God only knows what. It took us about good half an hour to go thru this horrifying menu until we finally made the choice.. and to tell you the truth.. not even one thing we ordered was good. So if you ever ask me what to eat in China... I'll tell you McDonalds ( as we did for the rest of the layover LOL ). After the dinner we decided to go to the club called Suzy Wang. It was quite nice, but most of the people there were visitors and expats just like us. We had a lot of fun there and left at about 2 am. The next day we scheduled a day trip with a tour guide. She picked us up at 8:30 am, so as you can guess ... we were dead LOL Our first stop was the Summer Palace.. we literally run thru it !!! This place is huuuge. Our next stop was the pearl factory, where they showed us how they make them and even opened one clam for us so we could see the pearls inside. Next we went to the Great Wall. Ouhhh my legs hurt till today from climbing it LOL. But it's really breathtaking. After this we went back to the city to visit Tea place where thy told us a lot about different kind of teas, traditions and different ways to drink it. When we finished the tour it was already 5 pm. Me and my friend Paula still had to go shopping... off course :) we got soooo much stuff..... hardly closed my suitcase LOL. The shopping in China is THE BEST..... no comparison. On that note, everyone happy we left china. Until next time ;)
Frankfurt.
One of my best flights ever, and all thanks to awesome cabin crew. We went for dinner and we laugh sooo hard that those poor Germans must have thought that we are bunch of kuku people from a nuts house LOL. But that's what it's all about- travel, have fun, enjoy !!!!!!
Trivandrum
Surprisingly this flight was really nice even that it was a long 11 hours duty and we were a little delayed. After flying for 6 months I have to say that finally I learned how to handle night flights.. and actually enjoy them :)
Monday, May 25, 2009
The BIG May roster !!!!
To be quite honest... I'm being very sarcastic when I say that it's my BIG roster... actually it's the smallest roster yet :(
My month started with 9 days off annual leave when I went back home to Poland. After that I had my probationary review meeting with my performance manager ( which I thought was a total waste of time ) and after that few days off which I spend with my friends in Dubai.
1) 3 day company promotion (which turned into London flight - 36 hours layover)
2) Manchester- 16 hours layover
3) Casablanca- 48 hours layover
About the promotion: It was booked from a month ahead.. so I thought that it's a SURE thing... well.. more less.... they canceled it 2 days before the scheduled date and put me 4 days available instead ... ghrrrrrr ....imagine how furious I was after I saw it, because not only that I have ONLY 2 flights this month ... but on top of that other department is messing up my roster. I decided to take things into my own hands and called Crew Control ( the people that are scheduling us for flights ) and requested for them to give me ANY flight on those days... I must have called them about 3 times a day .. until they gave me mentioned earlier London flight. uffff... thank God... back to work after 3 weeks off :)
Flight to London was uneventful .... only half full.... easy and quite boring... but it's sooo nice when you don't hear constant sound of call bells. When passengers wanted something they came to the galley and asked for it and on top of that it was the cleanest flight I ever had !!! Layover was nice as well.... we went out to a small town close by the airport. Later we came back to the hotel and had some yummi Guinness :) ( as always on British destinations ). Return flight was as nice as the out- bound.
My month started with 9 days off annual leave when I went back home to Poland. After that I had my probationary review meeting with my performance manager ( which I thought was a total waste of time ) and after that few days off which I spend with my friends in Dubai.
1) 3 day company promotion (which turned into London flight - 36 hours layover)
2) Manchester- 16 hours layover
3) Casablanca- 48 hours layover
About the promotion: It was booked from a month ahead.. so I thought that it's a SURE thing... well.. more less.... they canceled it 2 days before the scheduled date and put me 4 days available instead ... ghrrrrrr ....imagine how furious I was after I saw it, because not only that I have ONLY 2 flights this month ... but on top of that other department is messing up my roster. I decided to take things into my own hands and called Crew Control ( the people that are scheduling us for flights ) and requested for them to give me ANY flight on those days... I must have called them about 3 times a day .. until they gave me mentioned earlier London flight. uffff... thank God... back to work after 3 weeks off :)
Flight to London was uneventful .... only half full.... easy and quite boring... but it's sooo nice when you don't hear constant sound of call bells. When passengers wanted something they came to the galley and asked for it and on top of that it was the cleanest flight I ever had !!! Layover was nice as well.... we went out to a small town close by the airport. Later we came back to the hotel and had some yummi Guinness :) ( as always on British destinations ). Return flight was as nice as the out- bound.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
April Roster !!!
1)Islamabad - Turnaround that turned into a diverted flight into Karachi
2)Manchester -36 hours layover
3)Jakarta - 23 hours layover
4)Doha - turnaround
5)Casablanca - 35 hours layover
6)Manchester- 24 hours layover
OK... lets start the month with : Medical emergency ... why not?
Islamabad:
Flight started quite normal...( for Pakistan flight I mean ). Full economy going in and supposed to be full as well on the return sector. Outbound flight went fine... without and incidents.. but the inbound flight. About and hour into the flight and at the beginning of our service, suddenly I heard a guy scream .. I had no idea what happened because I could not locate the person that screamed, but suddenly my colleague that worked on the left side shouted to me that she has medical emergency and that she needs help. And at that moment I saw one of the passengers having a seizure. As per our First Aid training we just put pillows and blankets around him , so he wont hurt himself until the seizure stops. We followed that until our other colleagues came to help us. He started having problems breathing so they applied oxygen and thankfully there was doctor on board that came to the rescue, and was constantly monitoring the casualty. The guy came back to a "normal" stable state in a matter of 15 minutes. We gave him something to eat and drink but before he even had the chance to start it... I heard another scream !!! He had another seizure.... but this time it got much worst and his heart and breathing stopped. My colleagues dragged him to the back galley to begin the CPR. He was out for about 1 min and 15 sec. But after about 20 chest compressions his heart beat came back so we did not have to start the Defibrillator. Thank God.. we had about 4 doctors on board the aircrafts.. and all of them willing to help.... how lucky are we? At the moment of the second attack, the captain made the decision to divert into Karachi since it was only 40 minutes away. The flight time into Abut Dhabi would be only 1:20 but the doctor said that the casualty might not survive the next attack... so we need to get him to the hospital ASAP. After landing in Karachi.. the ambulance and doctors were waiting for our aircraft. At this point the guy felt much better, was fully conscious and talked with the crew. We don't know what happened to him after he left the aircraft... but we are sooo thankful that we were able to save his life on board :) After we finally landed in AUH the Etihad Management wanted us to come back to the briefing area to get us de- briefed and to write a full report on what happened. They were very sweet and considered... even offered us help of psychologyst if needed and gave us option to take couple of days off. I did not opted on any of those since I actually felt great about what happened and about our great team work we showed in this stressful situation ( we even finished whole service while other crew was helping with the casualty ) . I think we done an awesome job all together and that all that counts to me. GO ETIHAD !!!!!
Manchester:
My first Manchester trip ever... and I fell in love with that charming place instantly. The weather wasn't too good so I decided to only go for a walk to the nearby city of Hales. What I love about it is the beautiful houses and properties along the road. They all have very english look, but each one is different and one of a kind. And the gardens..... WOW the gardens are amazing. Definitely looking forward to next layover :)
Jakarta:
My first trip to Asian country. On way to Jakarta about 95% of the passengers in Economy were house maids returning home from Saudi Arabia or UAE. They were sooooo sweet. The call bell did not go on for the whole flight. They were taking pictures of us the whole time LOL What a pleasure to have flight like that for a change. We get to the city at around 3 pm and about 6 of us decided to go out shopping, go for dinner and massage. wow... 1,5 hour massage was amazing... but it was quite strong so next day I had bruises on my back LOL. I got to the hotel at 10 pm and next day I get up early to go shopping again since I did not find anything I wanted the day before. I returned to the hotel at 12 pm and our pick up was at 1pm. I wish we had a longer layover there ... it would be soooo much better to be able to go and see the whole city. On our way back the flight was as pleasant as on way in. But this time most of the pax in economy were pilgrims to Mecca, about 3 different trips ,because the whole group was dressed in the same clothes so it was easy to recognize them. I could do this flight any day, especially that we had THE BEST cabin manager - Silvia. She made this trip so special for us. ( I flew with her to Frankurt before.... just a pleasure to have her on the flight :)
Doha:
Definitely the shortest trip I ever did LOL. 45 min to go in and 35 min to go back....
Casablanca
Jeeeezzzzz.... what a looooong flight. Everyone I know hates to do this flight. They tell me that the pax are demanding and rude. Nothing more wrong. My flight went unbelievebly smooth and with almost no call bells. :) lucky me LOL. The only problem with this flight is the flight time : over 8 hours... and on top of that it's a night flight..... trust me, it's hard to stay awake.
I was suprised on how much Casablancas suburbs remind me about my home country. And I'm speaking only about the natural beauty. The trees, the fields... just amazing. ( except that we don't have palm trees in Poland heheehe ). The city by it self is quite noisy and poor. But it realy have THE personality :) The first evening 5 of us ( 4 crew and 1 pilot ) went to the spanish restaurant called La Badega... nice food, nice atmosphere... very different form regular 4 or 5 stars restaurants in AD.
Next day I went with 2 pilots to the beach area for lunch and had a chance to look around the town. :) Over all.... nice flight, nice crew, nice destination. Will do it anytime !
2)Manchester -36 hours layover
3)Jakarta - 23 hours layover
4)Doha - turnaround
5)Casablanca - 35 hours layover
6)Manchester- 24 hours layover
OK... lets start the month with : Medical emergency ... why not?
Islamabad:
Flight started quite normal...( for Pakistan flight I mean ). Full economy going in and supposed to be full as well on the return sector. Outbound flight went fine... without and incidents.. but the inbound flight. About and hour into the flight and at the beginning of our service, suddenly I heard a guy scream .. I had no idea what happened because I could not locate the person that screamed, but suddenly my colleague that worked on the left side shouted to me that she has medical emergency and that she needs help. And at that moment I saw one of the passengers having a seizure. As per our First Aid training we just put pillows and blankets around him , so he wont hurt himself until the seizure stops. We followed that until our other colleagues came to help us. He started having problems breathing so they applied oxygen and thankfully there was doctor on board that came to the rescue, and was constantly monitoring the casualty. The guy came back to a "normal" stable state in a matter of 15 minutes. We gave him something to eat and drink but before he even had the chance to start it... I heard another scream !!! He had another seizure.... but this time it got much worst and his heart and breathing stopped. My colleagues dragged him to the back galley to begin the CPR. He was out for about 1 min and 15 sec. But after about 20 chest compressions his heart beat came back so we did not have to start the Defibrillator. Thank God.. we had about 4 doctors on board the aircrafts.. and all of them willing to help.... how lucky are we? At the moment of the second attack, the captain made the decision to divert into Karachi since it was only 40 minutes away. The flight time into Abut Dhabi would be only 1:20 but the doctor said that the casualty might not survive the next attack... so we need to get him to the hospital ASAP. After landing in Karachi.. the ambulance and doctors were waiting for our aircraft. At this point the guy felt much better, was fully conscious and talked with the crew. We don't know what happened to him after he left the aircraft... but we are sooo thankful that we were able to save his life on board :) After we finally landed in AUH the Etihad Management wanted us to come back to the briefing area to get us de- briefed and to write a full report on what happened. They were very sweet and considered... even offered us help of psychologyst if needed and gave us option to take couple of days off. I did not opted on any of those since I actually felt great about what happened and about our great team work we showed in this stressful situation ( we even finished whole service while other crew was helping with the casualty ) . I think we done an awesome job all together and that all that counts to me. GO ETIHAD !!!!!
Manchester:
My first Manchester trip ever... and I fell in love with that charming place instantly. The weather wasn't too good so I decided to only go for a walk to the nearby city of Hales. What I love about it is the beautiful houses and properties along the road. They all have very english look, but each one is different and one of a kind. And the gardens..... WOW the gardens are amazing. Definitely looking forward to next layover :)
Jakarta:
My first trip to Asian country. On way to Jakarta about 95% of the passengers in Economy were house maids returning home from Saudi Arabia or UAE. They were sooooo sweet. The call bell did not go on for the whole flight. They were taking pictures of us the whole time LOL What a pleasure to have flight like that for a change. We get to the city at around 3 pm and about 6 of us decided to go out shopping, go for dinner and massage. wow... 1,5 hour massage was amazing... but it was quite strong so next day I had bruises on my back LOL. I got to the hotel at 10 pm and next day I get up early to go shopping again since I did not find anything I wanted the day before. I returned to the hotel at 12 pm and our pick up was at 1pm. I wish we had a longer layover there ... it would be soooo much better to be able to go and see the whole city. On our way back the flight was as pleasant as on way in. But this time most of the pax in economy were pilgrims to Mecca, about 3 different trips ,because the whole group was dressed in the same clothes so it was easy to recognize them. I could do this flight any day, especially that we had THE BEST cabin manager - Silvia. She made this trip so special for us. ( I flew with her to Frankurt before.... just a pleasure to have her on the flight :)
Doha:
Definitely the shortest trip I ever did LOL. 45 min to go in and 35 min to go back....
Casablanca
Jeeeezzzzz.... what a looooong flight. Everyone I know hates to do this flight. They tell me that the pax are demanding and rude. Nothing more wrong. My flight went unbelievebly smooth and with almost no call bells. :) lucky me LOL. The only problem with this flight is the flight time : over 8 hours... and on top of that it's a night flight..... trust me, it's hard to stay awake.
I was suprised on how much Casablancas suburbs remind me about my home country. And I'm speaking only about the natural beauty. The trees, the fields... just amazing. ( except that we don't have palm trees in Poland heheehe ). The city by it self is quite noisy and poor. But it realy have THE personality :) The first evening 5 of us ( 4 crew and 1 pilot ) went to the spanish restaurant called La Badega... nice food, nice atmosphere... very different form regular 4 or 5 stars restaurants in AD.
Next day I went with 2 pilots to the beach area for lunch and had a chance to look around the town. :) Over all.... nice flight, nice crew, nice destination. Will do it anytime !
Friday, March 13, 2009
My March Roster
I have to say that my March roster is PERFECT !!!!
I could not be happier unless they send me to Bahamas for a week LOL
5 layovers and 5 turnarounds :)
1) London- 20 hours layover
2) 4 sectors in one day : Abu Dhabi - Bahrain, Bahrain - Abu dhabi; Abudhabi - Muscat, Muscat - Abu Dhabi ( each sector 45min -1h. long )..same crew on all sectors.
3) London- 36 hours layover
4) Trivandrum - turnaround
5) Beirut - turnaround
6) Karachi- turnaround
7) Geneva - 75 hours layover- my requested flight :)
8) Johannesburg - 13 hours layover
9) Dublin - 17,5 hours layover
London
that was already my second London flight since I started flying. Since I did not have much time, I only went with one of my friends for dinner and Guinness ;) at near by pub. Flight was quite good... nothing unusual.
4 Sectors
It was my first flight on A320 ( the smallest aircraft). On our sectors to and from Bahrain we flew on the oldest 320 we have - the famous Zulu :)
I have never been so freaked out about an aircraft before LOL. This aircraft is a leased one , and very old. Nothing on it works as it supposed to ... we even burned our crew meals in the oven LOL. It does not have In Flight Entertainment system , so we had to do a manual demonstration ( hehehehe.. I actually love it, it's like putting on a show for everyone in the cabin LOL )..but after all we're all still alive and well :)
Going to and from Muscat was a totally different story... a couple months old .. sparkling fresh A320 :)... what a relieve LOL. That flight was smooth... ahhhhh what a difference :) .The only issue I had.. and it was my first issue with a guest: we were taxing ... and the captain made an announcement that it will take another 5-10 minutes for us to take off because there are some other aircrafts before us. So a lot of people took out their cellphones and started texting and talking .. yes... seriously !!! All the crew , straight away went to the cabin and asked everyone to turn off their mobiles... so did I- and guess what.. I asked this one older French lady to switch off her mobile, and she refused... so I repeated my request : " PLEASE switch off your cell phone " and she tells me : " the captain said we'll be waiting for 10 minutes so I can use it" to which I said " Ma'am PLEASE turn off your mobile NOW " and guess what she tells me ... " I don't like the way you talk to me " !!!!! Can you believe the nerves !!! Buaahahaha... so I had enough arguing with her and asked my friend to go and have a talk with her... when my friend went to her, she told her to turn off the phone NOW.. but in French ... and it worked LOL. I just don't understand why people just don't get a simple directions hmmmm... sometimes makes me wonder who is smarter... the labor workers that don't even speak English and when we ask them to turn off their cellphones, they don't even know how and they hand them to us .. or how it might seem an educated European older lady who just decides to piss us off !!! hmmmm ....go and figure LOL
London
Yet another London.. but this time - a long layover. Finally I went to see the town with my friend. We freezed to death in this moody English weather. It was raining, windy and super cold. Why do we always get the stupid ideas to go out in such conditions??? Our hotel is located next to Heathrow airport so going to town is quite a trip. First we have to take bus to the airport where we take a metro to take us to downtown. About 50min-1:10 long all together. When we first arrived at the hotel in the morning, the weather was sooo nice.. sunny and quite warm for March. We went to sleep and decided to go to town around 1 pm .... and by the time we got to the metro it started to pour rain !!! It got cold and the wind was just ridiculously strong.
But... what to say... crazy cabin crew.. once we make the decision to go sightseeing.. nothing stops us LOL. After wee seen everything there is to see in London, we came back around 7 pm and went to our neighborhood English pub... and yet again for a great Guinness beer with Blackcurrant syrup .. Yum :)
Trivandrum
Beirut
That was the most bumpy flight I ever had. We had a very rough patch of turbulence right before we landed in Beirut. Even at touch down the aircraft was swinging from left to right and we got a little scared because it touched the ground first with one wheel and then with the second and kept swinging while braking.... uffff... what an experience.
Karachi
Night flight again. Going to Karachi we had only 80 pax ( on A330-200 the max. is 240 in economy) and going back we had only 25 !
The flight was quite short, only about 2 hours. But going back we seriously finished the service in 15 minutes LOL .... and that gave us a lot of free time :)
I could not be happier unless they send me to Bahamas for a week LOL
5 layovers and 5 turnarounds :)
1) London- 20 hours layover
2) 4 sectors in one day : Abu Dhabi - Bahrain, Bahrain - Abu dhabi; Abudhabi - Muscat, Muscat - Abu Dhabi ( each sector 45min -1h. long )..same crew on all sectors.
3) London- 36 hours layover
4) Trivandrum - turnaround
5) Beirut - turnaround
6) Karachi- turnaround
7) Geneva - 75 hours layover- my requested flight :)
8) Johannesburg - 13 hours layover
9) Dublin - 17,5 hours layover
London
that was already my second London flight since I started flying. Since I did not have much time, I only went with one of my friends for dinner and Guinness ;) at near by pub. Flight was quite good... nothing unusual.
4 Sectors
It was my first flight on A320 ( the smallest aircraft). On our sectors to and from Bahrain we flew on the oldest 320 we have - the famous Zulu :)
I have never been so freaked out about an aircraft before LOL. This aircraft is a leased one , and very old. Nothing on it works as it supposed to ... we even burned our crew meals in the oven LOL. It does not have In Flight Entertainment system , so we had to do a manual demonstration ( hehehehe.. I actually love it, it's like putting on a show for everyone in the cabin LOL )..but after all we're all still alive and well :)
Going to and from Muscat was a totally different story... a couple months old .. sparkling fresh A320 :)... what a relieve LOL. That flight was smooth... ahhhhh what a difference :) .The only issue I had.. and it was my first issue with a guest: we were taxing ... and the captain made an announcement that it will take another 5-10 minutes for us to take off because there are some other aircrafts before us. So a lot of people took out their cellphones and started texting and talking .. yes... seriously !!! All the crew , straight away went to the cabin and asked everyone to turn off their mobiles... so did I- and guess what.. I asked this one older French lady to switch off her mobile, and she refused... so I repeated my request : " PLEASE switch off your cell phone " and she tells me : " the captain said we'll be waiting for 10 minutes so I can use it" to which I said " Ma'am PLEASE turn off your mobile NOW " and guess what she tells me ... " I don't like the way you talk to me " !!!!! Can you believe the nerves !!! Buaahahaha... so I had enough arguing with her and asked my friend to go and have a talk with her... when my friend went to her, she told her to turn off the phone NOW.. but in French ... and it worked LOL. I just don't understand why people just don't get a simple directions hmmmm... sometimes makes me wonder who is smarter... the labor workers that don't even speak English and when we ask them to turn off their cellphones, they don't even know how and they hand them to us .. or how it might seem an educated European older lady who just decides to piss us off !!! hmmmm ....go and figure LOL
London
Yet another London.. but this time - a long layover. Finally I went to see the town with my friend. We freezed to death in this moody English weather. It was raining, windy and super cold. Why do we always get the stupid ideas to go out in such conditions??? Our hotel is located next to Heathrow airport so going to town is quite a trip. First we have to take bus to the airport where we take a metro to take us to downtown. About 50min-1:10 long all together. When we first arrived at the hotel in the morning, the weather was sooo nice.. sunny and quite warm for March. We went to sleep and decided to go to town around 1 pm .... and by the time we got to the metro it started to pour rain !!! It got cold and the wind was just ridiculously strong.
But... what to say... crazy cabin crew.. once we make the decision to go sightseeing.. nothing stops us LOL. After wee seen everything there is to see in London, we came back around 7 pm and went to our neighborhood English pub... and yet again for a great Guinness beer with Blackcurrant syrup .. Yum :)
Trivandrum
Beirut
That was the most bumpy flight I ever had. We had a very rough patch of turbulence right before we landed in Beirut. Even at touch down the aircraft was swinging from left to right and we got a little scared because it touched the ground first with one wheel and then with the second and kept swinging while braking.... uffff... what an experience.
Karachi
Night flight again. Going to Karachi we had only 80 pax ( on A330-200 the max. is 240 in economy) and going back we had only 25 !
The flight was quite short, only about 2 hours. But going back we seriously finished the service in 15 minutes LOL .... and that gave us a lot of free time :)
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Q & A
Since I received a lot of questions regarding my life, Etihad, Abu Dhabi, my apartment, my roster etc. I'll take some time to answer all of them in one post.
I'll start with the most recent email I received from Roberto from Italy :
"So I am here to ask you the most tedious question of all: what is it like to work there ?
I am sure you understood I don't mean to know what it's like to be a cabin crew, instead I'd like to get to know what are schedules like, how many crew work on the different aircreafts, how many flying hours per month roughly, and how many days off, also between flights, if there is a "long haul only" sector or everybody flies everywhere, and last but not least wages and cost of life in Abu Dhabi, and whatever info you feel like telling me."
Ok... my schedule differs from month to month. I can have as low as 6 flights per month up to 15-20 if they are all turnarounds. On average we do 80 -140 duty hours per moth. Now in March I have a great roster of 5 turnarounds and 5 layovers. So it really depends. When it comes to amount of crew on each flight it also is different. On our smallest aircrafts Airbus 320 we have a compliment of 6 crew , where on a big one like Airbus 340-500 we can have as many as 15 crew on board. We can have minimum of 8 days off per month .. but this number can increase, me for example I had 11 days off in February. If we have a ultra long haul flights like Sydney, Toronto or New York we have 2 days off before this flight and 2 days off after. The minimum rest between any other flights is 11 hours... and so is the minimum layover time.
Here at Etihad everyone flies everywhere ( exception are only for countries we require visa for, but most of the crew gets them without a problem ).
When it comes to our pay, we make anywhere between 8,000- 12,000 dirhams a month ( $1 = 3.6 dirhams ). This pay is tax free and we have no bills to pay :) . Our apartments are payed for as well as all the utility bills. We have free transport to and from work, uniforms are provided for free and we have free next-day dry cleaning in our apartment buildings for the uniforms. I feel really blessed to have such a stress free life. When it comes to cost of living in Abu Dhabi... I think that what we make makes us well into middle class. Imagine that the taxi drivers and construction workers make here only about 700-1000 a month. The other bonus is that we have a lot of discounts all over the place. Starting from restaurants and finishing on car rental. Some places give us as much as 50% off :)
If anyone asks me about my job I'll give them only one answer : I can't imagine better job than this one !!!
Next on is a question from Julia :
"Let us know more details, descriptions of your flats,your colleques and what you do in your free time etc... We're all courious of that:)"
Well Julia.. I just moved to a new flat about 2 weeks ago. When I first arrived in Abu Dhabi I was placed right away in accommodation in middle of the city, which was great . I had all the shopping, all the restaurants and the beach within 10 minutes of my apartment. The buliding was one of the oldest that Etihad owns, so the flats were a little outdated, but I had a really great roommate from Russia and that made the whole difference in the world. The only downside to living there was the amount of time it took us to get to the airport. If there was traffic and we still had to pick up crew from other buildings it could take up to 1:45 to get to reach the airport. trust me.. a real pain in the ass. Our pick up was always 2 hours before reporting time.. and sometimes we made it only on the last minute. But on the other hand.. if it was night flight and no traffic it took us only 45 minutes to reach the airport.... so we could never tell. Coming back form the flight was even more annoying... because let say there is 15 crew in the bus from 5 different buildings.. and you are going to be dropped off last one.... good 2 hours on the bus !!! And that pushed me to making a decision to move to a new accommodation that is only 10 minutes drive from the airport. I went to the housing department and ask them for a flat swap.. and 2 weeks later, they found a girl that wanted to move out from that building and move to the city. As of now I absolutely love living in Mohamed Bin Zayed City... also called Mussafah. It's a brand new closed complex that opened just few months ago. It's 8 tall buildings which is housing flats for crew, pilots and some ground staff. Like I said.. it's only 10 minutes drive to the airport. But there is not much around us... mostly desert. The only good news is that just we have a mall attached to it :) ( but it's going to be opened in 2 month ) but even better we have a huge Lulu supermarket as well, that opened just yesterday. We have tennis court, basketball court, gym , pool , sauna, jacuzzi, steam room, fitness classes, underground parking, internet room... and beautiful brand new apartments :).. I guess if we had to pay for the flats.. it will cost anywhere between 8,000 - 10,000 a month. On top of that our pick up is only 45 minutes before the reporting time.. and drop off takes only 10 minutes :)... and no more traffic !!! I LOVE IT !!!
Now we have a very different social life. Before while living in town , we'll mostly go out for dinners to the restaurants, meet at the mall or caffee... but now we just hang out at each others apartments.. cook dinners together, watch movies and spend a very relaxed time at home.... which is what I like the most.. I'm a very homey and laid back person... and this lifestyle is just perfect for me. But don't worry... we are not totally cut off from town. We have a special transport bus that pick people up from my complex every 2 hours and takes them to town... and then back.. and all for free as well :). This way we can still go shopping, go to the beach, meet our friends and live our life to the fullest.
Next question is from Traytable:
I suppose what I would like to know is, if you did not get to travel all over, and just did turnarounds, do you think you would like EY as much? And do only a few still get trained for A320 or does everyone train on it now?
Good question, and made me think about it a lot... and I have to be honest that if Etihad had only turnaround flights.. I'd probably get bored with the job in 6 months.
It would still be a great experience to visit some of those destinations on my days off..... but how many times can you see Kuwait or Beirut ?
Right now all new joiners are trained on A320, but we don't get training for B777.
And vice versa : some of the older crew that received training for B777, are not yet trained for A320. I guess with time we all will finally have both trainings done.
I'll start with the most recent email I received from Roberto from Italy :
"So I am here to ask you the most tedious question of all: what is it like to work there ?
I am sure you understood I don't mean to know what it's like to be a cabin crew, instead I'd like to get to know what are schedules like, how many crew work on the different aircreafts, how many flying hours per month roughly, and how many days off, also between flights, if there is a "long haul only" sector or everybody flies everywhere, and last but not least wages and cost of life in Abu Dhabi, and whatever info you feel like telling me."
Ok... my schedule differs from month to month. I can have as low as 6 flights per month up to 15-20 if they are all turnarounds. On average we do 80 -140 duty hours per moth. Now in March I have a great roster of 5 turnarounds and 5 layovers. So it really depends. When it comes to amount of crew on each flight it also is different. On our smallest aircrafts Airbus 320 we have a compliment of 6 crew , where on a big one like Airbus 340-500 we can have as many as 15 crew on board. We can have minimum of 8 days off per month .. but this number can increase, me for example I had 11 days off in February. If we have a ultra long haul flights like Sydney, Toronto or New York we have 2 days off before this flight and 2 days off after. The minimum rest between any other flights is 11 hours... and so is the minimum layover time.
Here at Etihad everyone flies everywhere ( exception are only for countries we require visa for, but most of the crew gets them without a problem ).
When it comes to our pay, we make anywhere between 8,000- 12,000 dirhams a month ( $1 = 3.6 dirhams ). This pay is tax free and we have no bills to pay :) . Our apartments are payed for as well as all the utility bills. We have free transport to and from work, uniforms are provided for free and we have free next-day dry cleaning in our apartment buildings for the uniforms. I feel really blessed to have such a stress free life. When it comes to cost of living in Abu Dhabi... I think that what we make makes us well into middle class. Imagine that the taxi drivers and construction workers make here only about 700-1000 a month. The other bonus is that we have a lot of discounts all over the place. Starting from restaurants and finishing on car rental. Some places give us as much as 50% off :)
If anyone asks me about my job I'll give them only one answer : I can't imagine better job than this one !!!
Next on is a question from Julia :
"Let us know more details, descriptions of your flats,your colleques and what you do in your free time etc... We're all courious of that:)"
Well Julia.. I just moved to a new flat about 2 weeks ago. When I first arrived in Abu Dhabi I was placed right away in accommodation in middle of the city, which was great . I had all the shopping, all the restaurants and the beach within 10 minutes of my apartment. The buliding was one of the oldest that Etihad owns, so the flats were a little outdated, but I had a really great roommate from Russia and that made the whole difference in the world. The only downside to living there was the amount of time it took us to get to the airport. If there was traffic and we still had to pick up crew from other buildings it could take up to 1:45 to get to reach the airport. trust me.. a real pain in the ass. Our pick up was always 2 hours before reporting time.. and sometimes we made it only on the last minute. But on the other hand.. if it was night flight and no traffic it took us only 45 minutes to reach the airport.... so we could never tell. Coming back form the flight was even more annoying... because let say there is 15 crew in the bus from 5 different buildings.. and you are going to be dropped off last one.... good 2 hours on the bus !!! And that pushed me to making a decision to move to a new accommodation that is only 10 minutes drive from the airport. I went to the housing department and ask them for a flat swap.. and 2 weeks later, they found a girl that wanted to move out from that building and move to the city. As of now I absolutely love living in Mohamed Bin Zayed City... also called Mussafah. It's a brand new closed complex that opened just few months ago. It's 8 tall buildings which is housing flats for crew, pilots and some ground staff. Like I said.. it's only 10 minutes drive to the airport. But there is not much around us... mostly desert. The only good news is that just we have a mall attached to it :) ( but it's going to be opened in 2 month ) but even better we have a huge Lulu supermarket as well, that opened just yesterday. We have tennis court, basketball court, gym , pool , sauna, jacuzzi, steam room, fitness classes, underground parking, internet room... and beautiful brand new apartments :).. I guess if we had to pay for the flats.. it will cost anywhere between 8,000 - 10,000 a month. On top of that our pick up is only 45 minutes before the reporting time.. and drop off takes only 10 minutes :)... and no more traffic !!! I LOVE IT !!!
Now we have a very different social life. Before while living in town , we'll mostly go out for dinners to the restaurants, meet at the mall or caffee... but now we just hang out at each others apartments.. cook dinners together, watch movies and spend a very relaxed time at home.... which is what I like the most.. I'm a very homey and laid back person... and this lifestyle is just perfect for me. But don't worry... we are not totally cut off from town. We have a special transport bus that pick people up from my complex every 2 hours and takes them to town... and then back.. and all for free as well :). This way we can still go shopping, go to the beach, meet our friends and live our life to the fullest.
Next question is from Traytable:
I suppose what I would like to know is, if you did not get to travel all over, and just did turnarounds, do you think you would like EY as much? And do only a few still get trained for A320 or does everyone train on it now?
Good question, and made me think about it a lot... and I have to be honest that if Etihad had only turnaround flights.. I'd probably get bored with the job in 6 months.
It would still be a great experience to visit some of those destinations on my days off..... but how many times can you see Kuwait or Beirut ?
Right now all new joiners are trained on A320, but we don't get training for B777.
And vice versa : some of the older crew that received training for B777, are not yet trained for A320. I guess with time we all will finally have both trainings done.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Finally I'm catching up with you guys.
I'm soooo sorry for not posting anything for a while.. You know... flying, friends, parties :) no time LOL .... but I'll try to make a one-post-update.
My February roster looks like that :
1) 19 hours layover in Frankfurt
2) Turnaround to Iran
3) 33 hours layover in London
4) 30 hours layover in Sydney
5) 35 hours layover in Dublin
6) Turnaround to Karachi
7) Turnaround to Cairo
So let me tell you something about every one of those flights:
Frankfurt : Flight was nice and easy. I flew with 3 of my friends which made the flight much more fun. We stayed at the hotel that is about 15 minutes drive from downtown so me and 2 of my friends decided to go out at night and see a little bit of the city. We had fabulous dinner at one of the traditional German restaurants and we've seen only a little bit of the town, because we were to tired and to cold to walk much more.
Iran : ehhh nothing special ... just regular flight without any unusual events.
London: yeah... two words : FERRY FLIGHT !!! Let me explain... Ferry flight is an empty flight that still needs to be operated by minimum crew. So the deal was that the Royal Family of Abu Dhabi, requested this aircraft to fly them back from London to Abu Dhabi... The aircraft was throughly cleaned and prepared to have them on board, so me and the rest of the crew had to deliver this aircraft to London.
Just imagine... 7 hours of doing nothing... we just slept and watched movies ...nice !!! After we landed, 4 Cabin Managers, 4 Food and Beverages Managers and 12 FJ ( first and business class operating cabin crew with Inspired Service training) took over the aircraft to fly the Royal Family back to Abu Dhabi... that's what I call first class service !!!
On our way back we operated a regular flight.. but it was quite easy and chill .... so no problems encountered there .. thank God .. LOL
Sydney: I'M IN LOVE WITH AUSTRALIA !!! seriously.... I've never seen this many different shades of green in my life. After being in AD for past 3 months and seeing the deserts and sand everywhere... going to Sydney reminded me of what I miss the most - the green nature !!!
The weather was sooo bad in Australia.. nobody expected to see so much rain there... but they needed it because it was a dry season for them... and the forest fires were getting out of control.
I had one of my closest friends on the flight so we had a lot of fun together... we went to see town and later at night went to the clubs and bars and just seen the night life of this fabulous place.
The best part about this layover was the hotel- Double Tree hotel.. let me tell you... my window view .... WOW : the Opera house itslef and the ferry boats and the harbor bridge... couldn't ask for more.
The flight was really long but really easy at the same time. I'd do it any time !!!
Dublin: ohhh.. what a nice place.... easy flight... great crew... pure pleasure.
Me and about 6 of the crew members went out to a great night on town.. had a great dinner, went to a pub to have a nice Guinness beer.. and came back to the hotel a little tipsy LOL.. don't worry... we still had a lot of time before our return flight to get sober LOL. The rule at our airline is that we can't drink within 12 hours before the flight... sometimes they even do random alcohol tests... like my friend last week went to his flight and at the briefing they asked the whole crew to have the test done. You never know when it will happen to you.. so better not drink within those time limits.
Karachi: easy.. quick and painless LOL
Cairo: I was pulled of a home standby to operate this flight... so I was totally unprepared on what to expect. I heard some horror stories about Cairo flights, but mine was totally fine. The crew was quite good... the pax also...no medical emergencies and no security issues LOL quite a good flight.
I'll try to keep you all posted on my future randevouz !!!!
For now enjoy some pics from my earlier mentioned flights :
Sydney- right before landing
Sydney- view from my hotel window
Sydney- at the galley
On our Ferry Flight to London
Iran Flight
The Best Crew on my Frankfurt Flight
Dublin
Best restaurant in Temple Bar area !!!
Crew at play :)
My February roster looks like that :
1) 19 hours layover in Frankfurt
2) Turnaround to Iran
3) 33 hours layover in London
4) 30 hours layover in Sydney
5) 35 hours layover in Dublin
6) Turnaround to Karachi
7) Turnaround to Cairo
So let me tell you something about every one of those flights:
Frankfurt : Flight was nice and easy. I flew with 3 of my friends which made the flight much more fun. We stayed at the hotel that is about 15 minutes drive from downtown so me and 2 of my friends decided to go out at night and see a little bit of the city. We had fabulous dinner at one of the traditional German restaurants and we've seen only a little bit of the town, because we were to tired and to cold to walk much more.
Iran : ehhh nothing special ... just regular flight without any unusual events.
London: yeah... two words : FERRY FLIGHT !!! Let me explain... Ferry flight is an empty flight that still needs to be operated by minimum crew. So the deal was that the Royal Family of Abu Dhabi, requested this aircraft to fly them back from London to Abu Dhabi... The aircraft was throughly cleaned and prepared to have them on board, so me and the rest of the crew had to deliver this aircraft to London.
Just imagine... 7 hours of doing nothing... we just slept and watched movies ...nice !!! After we landed, 4 Cabin Managers, 4 Food and Beverages Managers and 12 FJ ( first and business class operating cabin crew with Inspired Service training) took over the aircraft to fly the Royal Family back to Abu Dhabi... that's what I call first class service !!!
On our way back we operated a regular flight.. but it was quite easy and chill .... so no problems encountered there .. thank God .. LOL
Sydney: I'M IN LOVE WITH AUSTRALIA !!! seriously.... I've never seen this many different shades of green in my life. After being in AD for past 3 months and seeing the deserts and sand everywhere... going to Sydney reminded me of what I miss the most - the green nature !!!
The weather was sooo bad in Australia.. nobody expected to see so much rain there... but they needed it because it was a dry season for them... and the forest fires were getting out of control.
I had one of my closest friends on the flight so we had a lot of fun together... we went to see town and later at night went to the clubs and bars and just seen the night life of this fabulous place.
The best part about this layover was the hotel- Double Tree hotel.. let me tell you... my window view .... WOW : the Opera house itslef and the ferry boats and the harbor bridge... couldn't ask for more.
The flight was really long but really easy at the same time. I'd do it any time !!!
Dublin: ohhh.. what a nice place.... easy flight... great crew... pure pleasure.
Me and about 6 of the crew members went out to a great night on town.. had a great dinner, went to a pub to have a nice Guinness beer.. and came back to the hotel a little tipsy LOL.. don't worry... we still had a lot of time before our return flight to get sober LOL. The rule at our airline is that we can't drink within 12 hours before the flight... sometimes they even do random alcohol tests... like my friend last week went to his flight and at the briefing they asked the whole crew to have the test done. You never know when it will happen to you.. so better not drink within those time limits.
Karachi: easy.. quick and painless LOL
Cairo: I was pulled of a home standby to operate this flight... so I was totally unprepared on what to expect. I heard some horror stories about Cairo flights, but mine was totally fine. The crew was quite good... the pax also...no medical emergencies and no security issues LOL quite a good flight.
I'll try to keep you all posted on my future randevouz !!!!
For now enjoy some pics from my earlier mentioned flights :
Sydney- right before landing
Sydney- view from my hotel window
Sydney- at the galley
On our Ferry Flight to London
Iran Flight
The Best Crew on my Frankfurt Flight
Dublin
Best restaurant in Temple Bar area !!!
Crew at play :)
Friday, February 6, 2009
First operating flight to Toronto.
Breath in... breath out... breath in ... breath out..... just thinking about this flight makes me nervous LOL
I was so excited to go on my first operating flight and I wanted it to be so perfect.. but it was so NOT.
The flight was delayed a little bit because we still needed to wait for a lot of pax that did not arrive yet from their connecting flight. That made other passengers extremely mad... and they took out all of their stress on us way before take off.
We were 6 crew for the whole economy section and the most experienced one has only 4 month experience and she was the galley operator. Just imagine the mess that was going on in the cabin. We did our absolute best but still we were running late with the service, we run out of meal choices, the pax constantly were asking us for something... not a minute went by without a call bell...so demanding- crazy... Total nightmare.... The worst was when 3 of us went to have their 4 hours rest and only 3 of us left to deal with all of this.... aghrrr.... we all wanted this flight to be over... but it's not easy when you'r on 15 hour flight.
On top of that our cabin manager gave us a lot of hard time and was pushing us way too hard and creating unnecessary stress instead of helping.... really disappointing.
But the flight finally came to an end and we all happily left the aircraft for our 29 hours layover :).
Toronto was beautiful but really cold, about -15 C. After we arrived at the hotel and checked in, me and few of my friends went to have sushi for dinner and to check out the area a little bit. What's nice is that the hotel we stay at is in the middle of the city... right on huge shopping street.... so what else to do, but shop ?!
The next day my friend got sick so I had to continue shopping by myself yeah.....and 7 hours later... finally I finished LOL.
We were so not looking forward to doing the flight back, but it proven us to be a totally 180 degrees different experience.
The economy class was only half full, with all nice passengers. Our service went unbelievably smooth. No problems at all ohhhh how we loved our lives again LOL. I have to admit that the flight back from Toronto was perrrfect !!!
After this experience.. I'm not sure if I want to fly to Toronto again... maybe it's just not worth all the stress.... but it's always a valuable lesson.
I was so excited to go on my first operating flight and I wanted it to be so perfect.. but it was so NOT.
The flight was delayed a little bit because we still needed to wait for a lot of pax that did not arrive yet from their connecting flight. That made other passengers extremely mad... and they took out all of their stress on us way before take off.
We were 6 crew for the whole economy section and the most experienced one has only 4 month experience and she was the galley operator. Just imagine the mess that was going on in the cabin. We did our absolute best but still we were running late with the service, we run out of meal choices, the pax constantly were asking us for something... not a minute went by without a call bell...so demanding- crazy... Total nightmare.... The worst was when 3 of us went to have their 4 hours rest and only 3 of us left to deal with all of this.... aghrrr.... we all wanted this flight to be over... but it's not easy when you'r on 15 hour flight.
On top of that our cabin manager gave us a lot of hard time and was pushing us way too hard and creating unnecessary stress instead of helping.... really disappointing.
But the flight finally came to an end and we all happily left the aircraft for our 29 hours layover :).
Toronto was beautiful but really cold, about -15 C. After we arrived at the hotel and checked in, me and few of my friends went to have sushi for dinner and to check out the area a little bit. What's nice is that the hotel we stay at is in the middle of the city... right on huge shopping street.... so what else to do, but shop ?!
The next day my friend got sick so I had to continue shopping by myself yeah.....and 7 hours later... finally I finished LOL.
We were so not looking forward to doing the flight back, but it proven us to be a totally 180 degrees different experience.
The economy class was only half full, with all nice passengers. Our service went unbelievably smooth. No problems at all ohhhh how we loved our lives again LOL. I have to admit that the flight back from Toronto was perrrfect !!!
After this experience.. I'm not sure if I want to fly to Toronto again... maybe it's just not worth all the stress.... but it's always a valuable lesson.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
My second and last suppy flight
OK... where to start? So many things happened on this flight that it's even hard for me to put it into right order LOL.
First of all: It's a layover flight to Dhaka- Bangladesh. About 4 hours flight from AUH to DAC and 5:15 from DAC to AUH. my lay over was supposed to be 23:35 but ....... and that where the story starts LOL.
My original pick up supposed to be on Wednesday at 20:50 , but in the afternoon I received a text message that my flight is delayed by 3:40 so my new pick up time will be at 00:30 (Thursday) .. OK..... fine with me, but still I could not fall asleep so that worn me out a little bit. My pick up was on time and we went to the airport for the briefing that is planned to start at 1:50. We started the briefing on time, and went thru about an hour of it and then the pilots came to brief us... but instead they told us that there is such a heavy fog in Dhaka that they can't take of yet, so we need to wait for another 4 hour and see if it clears up.... ufff..... 4 hours waiting at the airport- not something I was hoping for LOL.
At about 6:10 the Cabin Manager came back and we waited another 30 min for the captain to come and give us so more directions. At around 7:00 we received OK to board the aircraft and still do the flight.
We flew a big and old aircraft Airbus 340-300 and the coral economy class was full ... about 225 passengers just imagine !!! Our flight was 4 hours going to Dhaka and it was definitely not an easy one considering that all of the passengers were hardly speaking any english... so that created a great barrier in communication.. thank God our CM ( Cabin Manager ) spoke their language and we had 2 arabic speakers on board to help us out. But after all, the service went really good and the pax fell soon asleep , making it easier on all of us. I have to say that PAX were not demanding or rude or anything, just a simple workers going back home. But them smiling and trying to say thank you in english was the most rewarding thing. I understand that these are the people that left their families to go and work in UAE for almost no money, and their whole life is tough and it might seem unfair to us what kind of conditions they have to live in, so the best thing we as Cabin Crew can do is to make them feel important and respected for the duration of the flight.
As we arrived at the airport I could not believe my eyes. Dhaka international airport is just such a mess.... thousands of people sitting all over the floors, another thousands waiting outside... a total chaos if you ask me.
The bus was already waiting for us to take us to the hotel. The ride was only 10 minutes long but within those 10 minutes I've seen a sight of Bangladesh that I was totally not aware of. Poor, dirty and disgusting place to be in. Little kids begging on the streets for food and money everywhere dust and poverty. It's the first time for me to be in country like that so it was quite shocking for me to see all of that.
I did not realize on how bad it actually is.. I'm a typical traveler that thinks about different countries in the categories straight out of " National Geographic " magazine.
The hotel we stayed at was amazing. Me and few of the crew members and the captain went out for dinner to the restaurant that was inside the hotel. The food was fantastic ( but a bit pricey for a buffet).. with about 30 choices of desserts, we spent there about 2 hours LOL
The next day our flight was again delayed because of the fog, but they were nice enough to not wake us up until they find out the actual arrival time which meant only extra few hours of sleep.
Coming back the flight was much easier and we were doing great with everything. I had the chance to sit in the cockpit again for take-offs and landings and I helped a lot with the service.
Now, after my second suppy flight I can tell that I'm going to love my new job and enjoy it to the fullest. Now it's time for my first operating flight to Toronto !!
First of all: It's a layover flight to Dhaka- Bangladesh. About 4 hours flight from AUH to DAC and 5:15 from DAC to AUH. my lay over was supposed to be 23:35 but ....... and that where the story starts LOL.
My original pick up supposed to be on Wednesday at 20:50 , but in the afternoon I received a text message that my flight is delayed by 3:40 so my new pick up time will be at 00:30 (Thursday) .. OK..... fine with me, but still I could not fall asleep so that worn me out a little bit. My pick up was on time and we went to the airport for the briefing that is planned to start at 1:50. We started the briefing on time, and went thru about an hour of it and then the pilots came to brief us... but instead they told us that there is such a heavy fog in Dhaka that they can't take of yet, so we need to wait for another 4 hour and see if it clears up.... ufff..... 4 hours waiting at the airport- not something I was hoping for LOL.
At about 6:10 the Cabin Manager came back and we waited another 30 min for the captain to come and give us so more directions. At around 7:00 we received OK to board the aircraft and still do the flight.
We flew a big and old aircraft Airbus 340-300 and the coral economy class was full ... about 225 passengers just imagine !!! Our flight was 4 hours going to Dhaka and it was definitely not an easy one considering that all of the passengers were hardly speaking any english... so that created a great barrier in communication.. thank God our CM ( Cabin Manager ) spoke their language and we had 2 arabic speakers on board to help us out. But after all, the service went really good and the pax fell soon asleep , making it easier on all of us. I have to say that PAX were not demanding or rude or anything, just a simple workers going back home. But them smiling and trying to say thank you in english was the most rewarding thing. I understand that these are the people that left their families to go and work in UAE for almost no money, and their whole life is tough and it might seem unfair to us what kind of conditions they have to live in, so the best thing we as Cabin Crew can do is to make them feel important and respected for the duration of the flight.
As we arrived at the airport I could not believe my eyes. Dhaka international airport is just such a mess.... thousands of people sitting all over the floors, another thousands waiting outside... a total chaos if you ask me.
The bus was already waiting for us to take us to the hotel. The ride was only 10 minutes long but within those 10 minutes I've seen a sight of Bangladesh that I was totally not aware of. Poor, dirty and disgusting place to be in. Little kids begging on the streets for food and money everywhere dust and poverty. It's the first time for me to be in country like that so it was quite shocking for me to see all of that.
I did not realize on how bad it actually is.. I'm a typical traveler that thinks about different countries in the categories straight out of " National Geographic " magazine.
The hotel we stayed at was amazing. Me and few of the crew members and the captain went out for dinner to the restaurant that was inside the hotel. The food was fantastic ( but a bit pricey for a buffet).. with about 30 choices of desserts, we spent there about 2 hours LOL
The next day our flight was again delayed because of the fog, but they were nice enough to not wake us up until they find out the actual arrival time which meant only extra few hours of sleep.
Coming back the flight was much easier and we were doing great with everything. I had the chance to sit in the cockpit again for take-offs and landings and I helped a lot with the service.
Now, after my second suppy flight I can tell that I'm going to love my new job and enjoy it to the fullest. Now it's time for my first operating flight to Toronto !!
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